Celestron 9.25 Evolution Telescope

[Flyhigh7]

The moderator though it would be nice if offer my impressions of my new Celestron Evolution 9.25 Telescope here so I'll use this string to do that. The scope comes tomorrow but the tripod came this morning to my surprise. I've got it set up and I am very impressed with how heavy duty this Tripod is with it's 2" legs and the top and Utility tray are both heavy finished cast iron. The top has a bubble for leveling it. it also has metal bars that attach at the bottom of each legs and these bars meet directly under the center of the tripod for added stability. Thanks for the help on how to post a picture. I'll post more when the Telescope and Mount arrive tomorrow.

[Lady Fraktor]

Just use the full editor and attachments tab as I explained before.

Have fun

[Bigzmey]

The tripod looks good. Is the top metal or plastic?

[Flyhigh7]

The top and the Tray are both finished and I think they are Cast Iron as they are very heavy. The only plastic on it are the three little caps at the bottom of each leg that sit on the floor and maybe there is some plastic in the level.

[JayTee]

That's the same tripod my C11 uses. It is VERY stable. In fact, I can lean against it to steady myself at the EP and no vibrations come through from doing that.

[Flyhigh7]

Well guys, looks like bad luck strikes! The Telescope arrived with a giant hole in the box. Something was placed on top of it at some point and it went through the outer and the inner boxes and hit the Telescope tube hard enough to dent it so I'll be waiting another week for a replacement. Sorry guys but I had to come back and add an emoji because I just saw an emoji that couldn't be more perfect for this situation than this one:

[Bigzmey]

That's too bad! Hopefully, not too long for the replacement to arrive.

[Gordon]

I had something like that happen to a scope I ordered about 6 months ago, I was able to get a replacement pretty fast.

Looking forward to that 'first light' report!

[Flyhigh7]

Looking forward to that 'first light' report!

So are my cataract corrected eyes!

[JayTee]

I feel bad for you. I know how much anticipation you had for this scope. Let's hope the replacement arrives quickly.

[Flyhigh7]

Dax from High Point Scientific called this morning to process the RMA to return the damaged Telescope and set up an expedited shipment of the replacement Telescope but only after he added metal bands and additional pads to protect it in transit (see attached picture). Dax took a personal interest to insure I get an undamaged Telescope by adding the extra packing which was a very pleasant surprise to see such an honest concern for the customer.

[Flyhigh7]

The new Evolution 9.25 Telescope has arrived in one piece, no holes in the box and the scope looks like it's in perfect condition. Here is a picture of it being unpacked. I had to put the telescope on the Tripod so it doesn't get damaged. It comes with the Telescope mounted on the head mount with a plastic bag over it and the Styrofoam you see under the telescope. It has a manual, the keyboard (came in a bubble bag, and a box with the AC charger, charger adapters for other countries, the 13 and 40mm Plossl eye pieces which look like toys compared to the Pentax EPs I also purchased, the 1.25 Star Diagonal, visual back and the Red Dot Finder.

First, as per instructions I'm charging the built in battery while I attach the Visual back and star diagonal. My 2" baader Click Lock Visual Back is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Then I'll use this scope with the Baader 2" Sitill Silver Mirror Diagonal.

Let me know if you want to see specific pictures of any part of this assembly.

[Bigzmey]

Looks good!

[Flyhigh7]

Outside trying to align to 50mm finderscope but the screws won't get it. Need a shim to wedge the back bottom up as there is no screw on bottom to push it up for that.

Worst part is I can't focus the moon at all through the telescope with the 40mm plossl and it's getting to close to trees now to try with a different EP. Badder yet, there is a small scratch on the front glass about a 16th inch long. I saw it as soon as I took the front cover off. Not sure why I can't focus the moon though. I'll try with stars later tonight when it gets darker.

[AstroBee]

Make sure you are following all instructions included with the scope. I know some SCT's travel with a lock on the primary mirror. The primary mirror moving is what focuses. I seem to remember my old Meade 12" LX200GPS actually had a bolt on the back that had to be removed before the focuser would work. I'm not familiar with the Celestron 9.25".

[Flyhigh7]

Thank you AstroBee. I did follow the instructions. It's as though there is a protective piece of plastic on the front glass but I look and don't see anything and I don't want to touch the glass it to see if I could scrape a protective shield off.

When I center a star in the 36mm EP it takes about the whole screen and I get the black circle in the center which must be the secondary mirror. That black circle is always present when I'm pointed at a bright start yet I can't focus it at all. There is a clutter of 'noise' inside the star area.

I even took the diagonal out and get the same thing. I also need to raise the tripod about 8 inches. My back is killing me now. LOL

I'm going to bring it in and inspect it closer.

[JayTee]

On on my C11 it takes 20 full revolutions of the focus Knob to go from stop to stop. Since I can only do a half a revolution per twist with my wrist it takes me 40 twists to go from stop to stop. So sometimes it seems like focusing takes forever.

[Bigzmey]

Thank you AstroBee. I did follow the instructions. It's as though there is a protective piece of plastic on the front glass but I look and don't see anything and I don't want to touch the glass it to see if I could scrape a protective shield off.

When I center a star in the 36mm EP it takes about the whole screen and I get the black circle in the center which must be the secondary mirror. That black circle is always present when I'm pointed at a bright start yet I can't focus it at all. There is a clutter of 'noise' inside the star area.

I even took the diagonal out and get the same thing. I also need to raise the tripod about 8 inches. My back is killing me now. LOL

I'm going to bring it in and inspect it closer.

The scope comes with protective front cover so should be no protective film. Don't scrape the corrector plate!

So, if you point at bright star your see a doughnut, which is normal. If your turn the focuser dial, the black area in the doughnut should either get larger or smaller, does it happen?

[Flyhigh7]

On on my C11 it takes 20 full revolutions of the focus Knob to go from stop to stop. Since I can only do a half a revolution per twist with my wrist it takes me 40 twists to go from stop to stop. So sometimes it seems like focusing takes forever.

Bingo JayTee. I didn't realize there was that much travel in the focus adjustment. I never took it back to the counterclockwise stop. Your tip sent me back out and bingo; I have focus! Didn't see much as once aligned the finderscope to the Telescope I used SkyPortal to connect and align. I could connect but I

kept getting disconnected while trying to align the scope. So after wasting about an hour on that I gave up and wanted to use my phone to move the scope manually hunting stuff but I couldn't get that working outside of the Alignment process. Have to play with it tomorrow indoors just trying to figure out how to move the scope with the phone and the handset without aligning. Then maybe I'll update the firmware as one of the fixes has to do with frequent disconnects.

So, if you point at bright star your see a doughnut, which is normal. If your turn the focuser dial, the black area in the doughnut should either get larger or smaller, does it happen?

Yes Bigzmey, but I was so far away from focus that it was hard to tell if the doughnut size was changing and the stars seem to be on fast forward tonight as they traverse the sky. LOL!

Thank you all for the excellent support!

PS: Everyone who says its hard to focus because focusing these Telescopes (touching the focus knob) makes the thing vibrate is 200% right! Looks like the next thing on my list is going to be a motorized focus.

[Flyhigh7]

Here is a picture of the scar on the front glass of the Telescope. You have to look close to the right of center up about 2 Oclock. Please let me know if this is going to create any problems for me ad if so under what applications will it be a problem.
Thanks.

PS Got tired with the fuzzyness created when I focus the scope so I ordered a Celestron Focus Motor.